Duo Ruut

Trained in Tallinn, Estonia, Duo Ruut brings together musicians Ann-Lisett Rebane and Katariina Kivi around a focused approach to Estonian traditional music. The duo centers mainly on a single shared Estonian kannel (a type of zither), on which simple rhythmic motifs, spare melodic lines and tightly woven vocal harmonies are built. Straddling contemporary folk, Nordic influences and touches of minimal pop, Duo Ruut alternates songs from the Estonian repertoire with original compositions, playing with repetition, texture and an intimate softness. Noticed within the new Baltic folk scene in the late 2010s, the project took discographic shape with the album “Tuule sõnad” in 2019, followed by the EP “Kulla kerguseks” in 2021, which extends this pursuit of a very stripped acoustic sound. On stage, Duo Ruut focuses on a two-person setup, exploiting the physical closeness around the instrument and the vocal interplay between the members, which has gradually placed the duo within the network of festivals and venues dedicated to traditional music and acoustic experimental forms in Northern Europe.